The Penn's Grove record., 1887-01-22
Will LORE.
How TO Make a Will that Can't be
Broken After Death.

has q peculiar interest for US, partleu-
larry where a considerable estate is de-
vised. Weare not only curious to know
how a mar wishes his property to go
after he is through with it, but 1T seems
like a voice from the dead declaring
it shall 60. 1t is usually written IN the
most solemn moment of a mans life.
At that moment one realizes to the fun
that he brought nothing into this world
and can take nothing out, and that,
after the tongue is hushed and the heart
stilled. his commands will be spoken,
and his desires obeyed. Associated az
it is with such thoughts as these, it is
not strange that we are eager to know
how Mr.. Vanderbilt, or Mr.. Astor, or
Mr.. Tilden, or MI. Storey disposed Of
their fortunes. AS a matter OF fact,
being strangers to them, we do not care
whether they endOw a college or a cat,
but if their wills happen to be published
in the morning papers, we read them
first, as the most teothsOme items OF
news.
The clause in Mr.. Tilden's will pro.
viding that il any II of the devisees
contest it, he shall forfeit his share is a
valid one, and may be often found III
the wills of astute persons, like the de-
parted statesman. 1t has a tendency
to induce caution on the part of heirs.
If one can lose nothing by a contest and
may gam something, he may rush into
court as a sort Of speculation, and in
that way much of the estate be lost,
Our Uncle Sammy knew enough about
law aud lawyers to wish to keep his es-
tate free from their care. As nobody
ever drove a coach and four through
any document or statute he wrote, 50
you may be sure his win, drawn by bis
own hand, is equally ironclad.
There are many very curious and
eccentric wills described in the books,
and some strange phases of human ma
ture are illustrated in them. Some
men, who in life would not have given
a cup of water to a beggar, by their
wills leave enormous sums to charity
Those are the wills that usually take a
case through the courts, with handsome
plckings for the lawyers on the way.
All charitable requests are construed
with the utmost strlctneSS. About ten
years ago, II. II. Taylor, of Chicago,
died, leaving a will drawn by himself.
After provl ing for his wife and son,
as he thought quite literally, he devised
the residue of his estate, about 100000
to seven trustees to found a charitable
institution such as they should deem
best. In case they elected not to do so
the trustees were to turn over the estate
to the Home of the FriendleSs. As a
matter of course the will was contested
and, after thorough legal inquiry. it was
found that the charitable clause would
not hold water. After considerable
litigation the case was compromised,
and the Home OF the Frlendless got
$500, COO and the heirs the remainder.
a man in New jersey, not long since
left his estate 10 pay off the national
debt. The will was contested of course
but the courts have recently held 1t
valid, In the last century, Sir Joseph
Jekyll did the same thing in England.
When Lord Mansfield heard OF 1t he
said: "Sir Josaph was a very good mar
and a good lawyer, but his bequest was
a very foolish one; he might rs well
have attempted to stop the middle arch
OF Blackfriars bridge with his full-bot-
toned wig"
Simplea matter as it really Is, lawyers
have not always been successful In
drawing their own wills. Lord 81.
Leonard, high chancellor of England,
who, as Edward Sugden, was the most
eminent ~clancery lawyer in England.
and who with q number OF law books,
one particularly with a very elaborate
chapter on drawing wills. drew his own
will, and it required ar expensive law
suit and the decision of a court of chan
Gerry to give it proper effect. The will
of Lord Westbury, another lord high
chancellor, drawn by himself, met with
the same fate. could give you many
similar instances.
There have been devises to animals or
for their benefit which have been held
valid to cats, dogs. horses, and even
parrots. Not infreque1tly people have
undertaken to show their spite and
hatred, and sometimes their humor, in
wills.
The will of Lord Pembroke in the
seventeenth century has several items
of that kind-for instance: "ltem-l
give nothing to my Lord Sage, and l do
make him this legacy willingly, because
| know that he will faithfully distribute
it unto the poor. Item-I give up the
ghost"
Lord Bacon had no property to leave
but he left a regularly executed Will, IN
which he bequeathed his name and
memory ITO mems charitable speeches,
to foreign nations and the next ages"
Shakespeare left an elaborate will, which
contains q clause that has puzzled the
Shakespeareaus not a little.
81 give unto my wife my second best
bed, with the furniture" Why did he
only give Ann Hathaway his second
best, and not his best bed7 Nothing
else did she get, and the will has sought
In vain to know the aso why.
Lord Nelson left a will drawn just
before he went into the battle of Trafal-
gar, by which he bequeathed Lady
Hamilton and her daughter to his king
and country, but neither king nor cuun-
try accepted the legacy, aud they both
came to want, Lady Hamilton dying IN
abject poverty.
Napoleon in his will left a handsome
legacy to a wretch named Chatlllon,
who had attempted to a~ssassinate Well
ington.
The will of Rabelais has this clause:
81 have no available property; l W a
great deal; the rest L give to the poor.
His last words when dying were: Il go
to see the great Perhaps" A famous
French able had this pithy clause IN his
will: 80 my steward 1 leave nothing,
because he has been in my service for
eighteen years.
1t is not unusual for a man to leave
all his property to his wife, with the
provlso that if she marrles again sle IS
only to have what the law allows her.
| have drawn a number of such wills.
Governor Morris, the celebrated Amer
lean statesman, did not treat his wife
so. lie had married very late In life
Ann Randolph, a cousin OF John, OF
Roanoke, a woman much younger than
himself, and with whom he lived very
happily. He b~equeathed a very hand
some income to her, and then provided
that in case she married again the In
come should be doubled.
A soldier or a sailor is allowed to